Boy Scout Troop 325
Scoutmaster Minute
Things I Have Learned
August 30, 2005
Larry Polyak, Scoutmaster

In addition to this being a Court of Honor and our Annual BBQ, today also happens to be my 50th birthday. Yes, I was born on August 30th, 1955. It would take another 6 years for color television to become popular and it would be another 20 years before Atari released the first video game for home use.

I thought I would bore you -- er I mean share with you -– all of the really important things I have personally learned over the years. Ok, these are all true so listen up …

At age 6 I learned that you can’t hide green beans under your plate.
At age 8 I learned that if I could get my brother in trouble, it would take the heat off of me.
At age 9 I learned that you can’t give green beans to the dog. They don’t like them either.
At age 13 I learned that everyone remembers everything I say, especially the stupid stuff.
At age 14 I learned that trying to impress my friends should NOT be my main priority.
At age 17 I learned that I had to be responsible to be trusted.
At age 18 I learned that people don’t remember everything I say, and that everyone says stupid stuff sometimes.
At age 24 I learned that I really could eat green beans without gagging, IF they were cooked for me by a girl that I liked.
At age 26 I learned that manhole covers are round, not square, so that they can't fall down the holes.
It took me until age 29 to learn that if you give things a little more thought beforehand, you can save yourself a lot of time.
At age 30 I learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
At age 35 I learned that sometimes just listening is better than giving advice.
At age 38 I learned that there a lot of kind people in the world, willing to help when you need it.
At age 40 I learned that there were still a lot of things I’d like to ask my father, if only I could.
At age 49 I learned that being a Scoutmaster can be fun!
And at age 50 I know that I still have a lot to learn. Maybe you guys can teach me a thing or two.

Thank you for listening.